JEFFERSON CITY - State lawmakers would ban businesses aimed at getting it up from putting it up along state highways -- billboards, that is.
Rep. Trent Skaggs, D-North Kansas City, told a House committee Tuesday that billboards for sexually-oriented businesses were an affront to families driving down Missouri's highways.
"There's no choice of whether you or your children want to see it," Skaggs said. "It's there."
Skaggs and Rep. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg, are pushing a measure to ban adult businesses from billboard advertising within one mile of any state highway. This would include roads like I-70, where Skaggs said he had counted dozens of billboards enticing motorists with promises of a good time.
"We're trying to promote families and tourism," he said. "This sends the wrong message."
But some lawmakers at the hearing felt the legislature had bigger fish to fry.
"I'm not a porn person, per se," said Rep. Melba Curls, D-Jackson County. "But you've got way too much time on your hands if you've noted each mile marker."
Curls also questioned the bill's requirement that those under the age of twenty-one not be involved in putting up such billboards.
"How are you going to monitor who puts these things up?" Curls said, asking whether law enforcement resources would have to be diverted to check the IDs of billboard painters.
Others opponents pointed to the issue of free speech and of businesses' freedom to advertise. They said the bill does not just limit the content of highway billboards, but bans those adult businesses from advertising outright.
"We're concerned with the precedent this sets," said Bill May, executive director of the Missouri Outdoor Advertising Association. "That any group or business you disagree with could become the target of legislation to limit advertising."
Under the bill, even if an adult business is physically located within a mile of the highway, it will be unable to advertise freely on its own property. Only two signs will be permitted under the measure: one to give notice that no minors are allowed, and one to say only the "name, street address, telephone number, and operating hours" of the business.
Bill Fleischaker, a Joplin area civil rights attorney, said he did not think the proposal would "stand up to constitutional muster." Fleischaker said while cities have long been able to pass zoning ordinances to regulate where adult businesses can set up shop, banning them from advertising was a different story.
"You're dealing with protected first amendment activities," he said. "You have to treat all businesses equally."
Fleischaker will be appearing before the Missouri Supreme Court next month to represent Robert Crump Jr., who operates Midnight Video South, an adult video store in McDonald county. The state issued an injunction to close the store last year based on a health code ordinance that prohibits lewd activity that "can cause the spread of HIV."
Fleischaker said that ordinance is unconstitutionally vague, and was being used as a weapon to close what was otherwise a legal business.
"We think it has to be a higher standard," he said.
For now, Midnight Video remains closed. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case March 11.
The House bill dealing with billboards will be voted on by the Tourism and Culture committee next week.